“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

Barker provides scriptural verses for each of the above attributes and then adds more that Dawkins missed. Barker challenges Christians to pull back the veil of devotion and read what the “good book” really presents as “God.”

What is the purpose of satire? It is it effective? Can it get you in trouble? Terry Lindvall is the CS Lewis Professor of Communication and Christian Thought at Virginia Wesleyan College. He writes about humor and in his latest book, God Mocks: A History of Religious Satire From the Hebrew Prophets to Stephen Colbert, he explores the role of religious satire throughout history. From Elijah to Alexander Pope to Robert Ingersoll and more, Lindvall introduces us those who tickle our funny bone while calling us out.

Jim Wallis, president and founder of Sojourners, is an evangelical Christian with a social conscience. He speaks and writes about ethics and public policy. His latest book is called America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to A New America. He has been engaging in town meetings around the country to discuss what it means for white people to “die to whiteness” and what we all need to do to make a bridge to a multi-cultural America. Here is a report about the town meeting in Portland.

A pioneer of the progressive Christian movement, John Shelby Spong, returns for the third time to Progressive Spirit. We discuss his 25th book, Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy. The retired Episcopal Bishop of Newark demonstrates that the gospel writers were not writing material to be taken literally but liturgically. As Christianity moved away from Judaism it lost its ability to interpret the stories about Jesus. The Christian faith became a matter of believing things that can’t possibly be true. Fundamentalist Christians, says Spong, are heretics. He charts a course for spiritual thinkers to embrace faith and the modern world. Find his weekly column at www.johnshelbyspong.com.